The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) warned that Americans lost $3.5 billion to imposter scams in 2025, with reported losses nearly tripling since 2020.
Imposter scams were also the most reported fraud category last year, accounting for nearly one in three fraud reports filed with the FTC. In these scams, the fraudsters reach victims through text messages, phone calls, emails, social media, and search engine results. The costliest schemes typically involve a fake bank security alert that prompts targets to transfer funds to "protect" their accounts.
According to the FTC, victims lost nearly $1 billion to business impersonators (with bank impersonators being behind the most lucrative scams) and approximately $920 million to government impersonators. Social media was the most cost-effective attack vector for impersonators, with more than $2.1 billion in 2025 losses traced to social platforms (an eightfold increase since 2020).
Nearly one in three Americans who lost money in such scams were first contacted through social media, with Facebook losses alone exceeding those from text and email combined, while WhatsApp and Instagram ranked second and third.
"The FTC will use every tool available to combat one of the most pernicious forms of fraud—government and business impersonation—and to protect the integrity of the digital economy," said Christopher Mufarrige, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection.
